Analysis: Ed Miliband will get a big cheer – from Tory MPs

By David Maddox
Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012 00:05

ED MILIBAND is increasingly looking like a Labour leader in name only, and when he gets on his feet today for Prime Minister’s Questions it’s almost certain the loudest cheer for him will be from the Conservative benches.

While it is hard to pinpoint a precise moment when a leadership has come to an end, many will see the events of the past week as crucial.

First, there was last week’s dismal performance at PMQs when he was prodded into having a tantrum by a smirking David Cameron. Mr Miliband has not shone at PMQs generally, but this was by far his worst and suggested for the first time that he did not even have a grasp for the detail – the one thing it was suggested he had over Mr Cameron. But much worse was to follow at the weekend.

Mr Miliband last week relaunched Labour’s economic policy. Not that many people noticed or cared as the UK media focus fell mostly on Scotland and the referendum.

But then at the weekend his shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, grabbed the headlines by announcing he would support a pay freeze for public sector workers. There is a strong suggestion in the corridors of Westminster that this was announced without Mr Miliband’s consent. It had, after all, been absent from his major relaunch a few days before.

Whether this is true, it alienated and infuriated the one group that had backed him for the leadership against his brother David – the unions. After all, most MPs did not support him, and a majority of ordinary party members also preferred big brother.

The fact that some think Mr Balls was able to do this and that Mr Miliband fell meekly into line only serves to paint a picture of a man who is no longer in control of events and has nobody to turn to.

Candidates for his job are already being quietly pushed forward – shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy and Mr Balls’s wife, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, are favourites.

But some are openly speculating that David Miliband may come back to save the day.

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